We decided we would get up earlier than we had been today and we had actually dressed and eaten breakfast by 9. There were a couple things we thought of last minute or that we were still thinking about from the Stanley Market so we headed that way on bus 260 from Central.
I thought Peter wanted to see a few museums out there also but turns out he wasn't too interested so we just hit the market. There was an art store that we had seen on our last walk through that we wanted to pick up a few things from but when we walked by it looked like they were just opening up and nothing was out. We figured we would walk around a little bit more and then come back. I was looking for a set of jade earrings for myself but everyone wanted a lot of money for them. One store had the size (small) that I wanted and the lady said they were $360. I said okay and went to walk out. She said how much and I wasn't really in the mood so I said I was going to keep looking. She kept pressing and Peter said, "Well we bought a pair just like them at the Jade Market for $30". Which was true and had I thought about it then I would have just picked up two pair. The lady immediately says, "Ok, for you $30". I couldn't hide how ridiculous her change of price was and laughed a little, totally unintentionally, but she saw me and got insulted and told us to leave. Haha, it was pretty funny and all for the best because if she was willing to scam us that much I don't want to do business with her anyhow. At least the lady at the Jade Market only started at $60 when we asked her. We kept walking and found some little Chinese boy hats that have a long braid out the back. I wanted to get one for Javan since the girls got a few extra things, they are so much easier to buy for because everywhere sells purses and pretty clothes and jewelry, so I picked up three for a better deal and will give one each to my nephews, Tyler and Wyatt. We went back to the art store
but were surprised to find that it was completely shut down. They must have been closing rather than opening when we came by earlier even though it wasn't even 10 in the morning at that point. Peter said he wanted to look at another art store that we had been through so we went back there and he looked for a long time. We left and talked about the art and he really wanted a water color painting. I wasn't too excited about it but we talked about it while we did a little more browsing. I picked up some more scarves and a sun dress and then we went back to get a water color. Peter couldn't decide between 4 different ones and asked for my help.
Together we narrowed it down to 2 and then bought them both. We also got a cool gloss embroidered character set on handmade paper that said, "Faith, Hope, Love". We will probably have to ship the art work home because we won't be able to fit it in our carrying on. We ate at a French restaurant and then left Stanley and went back to the hotel to drop off
our purchases. Today was a really warm day and Peter finally got to wear his shorts. The temperature was supposed to drop later though I still took my jacket as we headed out to Kowloon. We weren't completely sure what
we doing but we did want to hit the Jade Market again for those earring and then possibly ICC and the Ladies Market. I had read previously about other street markets that seemed interesting and since we had seen lots of views of Hong Kong Island and all the buildings we decided to skip ICC and keep walking. We went down several streets and hit a fruit and wet market. There were lots of stalls with people selling their
fruit and veggies and then their were several shops with hanging meat where you go and say what you want and they cut it right there on the street. There were shops with bins of water and fish for you to choose your dinner from and then there were the occasional random shops that sold odds and ends. Along the way Peter stopped and bought me a single rose. He is so sweet to me. I enjoyed carrying it all night and smelling it happily.
There are so many different sights and smells here but the rose has the same smell as those at home and it made me feel happy. Peter found a guy selling buttons, which Abbi collects, but he spoke no English.
We tried to talk to him about the buttons but he couldn't understand. A random lady walked by and asked if she could help us so she acted as our translator and we picked up 10 buttons for Abbi's collection. It's a good thing we don't have a huge market like that by our house, I would get in trouble with all that produce around. I love our Farmer's Market but that is nothing compared to the streets of shops that we saw today. We saw the start of the Temple Street Market but decided to keep walking until we hit the
Goldfish Market. This is a stretch of street that sells all things related to fish, things for tanks, plants, food, and of course fish too. It was pretty cool to see it all together that way. Pretty much each shop sold one of the items but several varieties of it then you go to the next shop and they sell something associated with it but not the same. We had fun looking and went on to the Flower Market. There is a corner in Mong Kok that has a few street
dedicated to flowers. The shops are overflowing with boutiques and potted plants and they all spill out into the street. We had a great time just walking passed the shops and peering inside and smelling all the sweet
fragrances. There were a few shops just filled with orchards and others with mums. There were a few that were flower shops for buying bouquets for loved ones. Peter said he was sorry and should have bought me flowers there but I told him I would feel really bad if he bought me a bunch of flowers and I had to leave them behind when we left in two days. From there we went up to a little garden area where there was a short strip of the Yeun Po Bird Garden. Apparently this is where old men go to walk their
caged birds and some sell some as well. We saw a few in cages and then went on our way back to the markets. On our way back we hit the Ladie's Market and the Temple Street Market before heading
back to the hotel. Peter was hungry and we looked for some good street food but the only one we found was a bit pricey so we ended up eating at McDonald's which is super cheap here.
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